Cancel Health Insurance, save money instead?

manshay

I can afford the cover but feel it is a complete waste of money.

Our family 40yo (female), 37yo(male), children 8yr, 6yrs, 3 yrs.

We moved from UK in 2007, started VHI immediately, currently on ONE plan.
Had the 3yr old on the public maternity system, though no more babies. (Snip not allowed on health insurance, why?) The 6 yr old had an orthopaedic operation on the public system as she couldn't go privately, excellent care.
We have claimed some day to day costs on earlier plans, I had a benign mole removed(cost VHI €500 and I was in work for 9.10am!)

For our age(s) we should not need hospital treatment for quite some time. If we put €2,500 a year in a restricted access account we can pay privately if necessary, or go public.

The plan and any similar priced plans do not cover day to day spending, of which we have had very little. They seem to cover only hospital stays.

When we had the 3 yr old on the public system no one could tell us why we should go private, even a friend who is a GP. Low and behold the little bundle of joy appeared on New Years day at 8am so I'm guessing the consultant would not have been there for the delivery anyhow!

Can anyone make a case for keeping the health insurance? We both work in health related jobs, but not for the HSE and as such I feel we are making an educated gamble, and can rejoin the system when it suits us(taking into account the 5 year waiting period for pre existing conditions)

Help!!!!

cooperguy

Im lucky enough that my employer pays for my health insurance. Day to day it does the standard cover, 50% of GP visits etc. which I thankfully dont make alot of use of. Im young so it has never paid me to actually have the health insurance.

However, if anything serious was ever to happen, whether it is being hit by a bus or getting hit with some form of serious illness the savings of not having paid for health insurance would be wiped out in an extremely short length of time and being able to get a semi private room etc. would make a big difference too.

wmpdd3

look at the hsf for day to day exspeses, its well worth it for a big family. Its one payment per houshold and every one can claim.

amdublin

cooperguy wrote: »

However, if anything serious was ever to happen, whether it is being hit by a bus or getting hit with some form of serious illness the savings of not having paid for health insurance would be wiped out in an extremely short length of time and being able to get a semi private room etc. would make a big difference too.

Why?

Just go public.

Tails142

The real value of private health care is with non life-threatening injuries. Say you had chronic knee pain which seriously affected your lifestyle and you needed an operation to solve it, you could be 2 years plus on a waiting list to have the operation in a public hospital, by going private you could be operated on within the week.

That is the only value that I can see or ever seen explained through threads like this. Public hospital care is fine if you have a life threatening injury, but if you aren't going to die anytime soon you'll be stuck on a waiting list.

uck51js9zml2yt

My son had to see a consultant for a chronic ear infection. Public is 18 months by which time he could loose his hearing. We went private and saw someone in days.

cookie1977

Tails142 wrote: »

The real value of private health care is with non life-threatening injuries. Say you had chronic knee pain which seriously affected your lifestyle and you needed an operation to solve it, you could be 2 years plus on a waiting list to have the operation in a public hospital, by going private you could be operated on within the week.

That is the only value that I can see or ever seen explained through threads like this. Public hospital care is fine if you have a life threatening injury, but if you aren't going to die anytime soon you'll be stuck on a waiting list.

This is true for the most part but with the government increasing costs on public patients who are not medical card holders it is getting expensive and so the HSF is a good option if you cannot afford full private health insurance. They're a great organisation.

The charge for in-patient/day services is €75 per day up to a maximum of €750 in any 12 consecutive months. The charge does not apply to the following groups:

Medical card holders
People receiving treatment for prescribed infectious diseases
People who are subject to "long stay" charges
Children up to 6 weeks of age, children suffering from prescribed diseases and disabilities and children referred for treatment from child health clinics and school board examinations
People who are entitled to hospital services because of EU Regulations
Women receiving maternity services.

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/health/hospital_services/hospital_charges.html

Memphis Fat Treatment wrote: »

My son had to see a consultant for a chronic ear infection. Public is 18 months by which time he could loose his hearing. We went private and saw someone in days.

I'm not sure if you are speaking of a private consultation or a private operation but you could still see a private consultant for a consult for 100-200 euro and you wouldn't need private health insurance to do this. Plus not all private health insurance plans cover consultant fees.

coylemj

Memphis Fat Treatment wrote: »

My son had to see a consultant for a chronic ear infection. Public is 18 months by which time he could loose his hearing. We went private and saw someone in days.

If it was 'chronic', why didn't you go to the A&E department in the Eye & Ear Hospital?

coylemj

manshay wrote: »

(Snip not allowed on health insurance, why?)

They're not into birth control.

More babies = higher subscriptions.

Michael_Dare

You're absolutely right to do this. I dumped my VHI policy a couple of years ago and now save into a 'medical' savings account. If I need to have a private procedure in a few years, I'll be able to afford it. If I don't need any medical care, I'll still have €X sitting in the bank. With insurance, if you need it, it's there, if you don't need it, your money's gone. Anything critical, you're immediately covered by the public system - car crash, heart attack, etc.

Most Irish people don't realise the true costs of private health care. It's nowhere near as expensive as it is in the US. There are always outlying cases that you hear about on Joe Duffy, but most non critical procedures in private hospitals these days are day procedures - in in the morning, out in the evening. Most of these would come in at under €2500 (surgeon, hospital, anesthetist, etc.) I had to have a procedure myself 2 years ago (the whole business was the reason I dumped the VHI cover). In the end I paid for it myself. It involved an overnight stay in the Bon Secour in Dublin after the procedure, and the grand total was just over €2000.

Someone above mentioned that their employer pays their VHI, but what many people don't realise is that that's a taxable benefit. If your income hits the top tax band, then a €1000 yearly policy will actually still cost you over €500 in tax, PRSI and USC. Cheaper, yes, but not free.

Health insurance in this country is a bit of a scam. It's reassurance insurance, that's all. Makes people feel better. If they actually took out a calculator and started to do all the sums, there would be a mass exit from VHI.

phormium

Anyone listening to Ireland AM this morning on TV3 will get a good idea why health insurance is important if you can afford it. People texting in with how long they have been waiting for appointments and treatment, it's well into years for some. One case four and a half years waiting for triple bypass, 5 yrs for appointment with skin specialist. Now while you might be able to save enough to visit a specialist it would take serious saving to pay for a bypass if necessary. Until our health systems improve which I don't anticipate anytime soon I will be holding on to my insurance at all costs.

quad_red

Memphis Fat Treatment wrote: »

My son had to see a consultant for a chronic ear infection. Public is 18 months by which time he could loose his hearing. We went private and saw someone in days.

Worked with a woman who had an op to remove a neck tumour. There was nerve damage after the op that resulted in considerable facial paralysis. She required immediate therapy and the use of an electrical device to stimulate the face or else she would have been left with permanent facial paralysis.

Waiting time on public for access to the device would have been over two/three months ie. too late to make much of a difference. With private health insurance she had it immediately and there was little lasting paralysis.

Whilst not 'life threatening', increased facial paralysis is something I would consider pretty bloody life changing.